96pc of Parent Communities Voted in Favour of English Medium Education in AP

 Asserting that the state government has made quality education a right to the students, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said the government has put in efforts to bring in a radical transformation of school education with a long-time objective of preparing the students of Andhra Pradesh for a global citizen with bright future.

Concluding the short discussion on ‘Education’ in Legislative Assembly here on Friday, the Chief Minister listed out various initiatives taken up by the government in the last two and half years in the Education sector. Chief Minister said the state government has come up with ‘Right to English Medium Education’ for the bright future of the students and added that 96 percent of parents' committees voted in favour of English-medium education. He said the schools were categorized into six types as part of academic and administrative reforms and added that they are Satellite Foundational School (PP1 & PP2), Foundational School (PP1, PP2, Class 1 & 2), Foundational School Plus (PP1, PP2, Classes 1 to 5), Pre High School (Classes 3 to 7/8), High School (Classes 3 to 10) and High School Plus (Classes 3 to 12).  He said the government is planning for subject wise teachers from class 3 and limiting one teacher to 20 students in Class 1and 2, implementing CBSE syllabus, and other activities to enhance the efficiency of teaching to the students. 

The Chief Minister said the Government has spent Rs.13,023 crore so far benefiting 44.50 lakh mothers thereby benefiting 85 lakh children under Amma Vodi scheme and added that the government has taken a decision to implement the mandatory attendance of 75% to get the benefits of Amma Vodi for this year. 

He said Government has also come up with a proposal to offer laptops under this scheme for students of classes IX to XII to transform their lives digitally. He said the state government has been spending Rs. 1600 crore annually for effective implementation of Jagananna Gorumudda Scheme and added that the programme is being monitored in real time through a mobile application called Integrated MDM Monitoring System (IMMS) and officials are personally checking the quality of food regularly. He said the state government has given a kit consisting of 3 pairs of uniform, a pair of shoes and two pairs of socks, bilingual textbooks, notebooks, workbooks, and a school belt including a set of 3 masks under Jagananna Vidya kanuka and added that the government has spent Rs.1,437 Crore under this scheme. Giving credit to the reforms and welfare schemes, the Chief Minister said the enrollment in both government and private schools has been increased to 72,27,000 students at present compared to 70,43,000 in 2018-19 and added the enrolment in only government schools has been increased to 44,39,000 students compared to 37,21,000 students in 2018-19 and the students enrollment has decreased from 31,14,000 in 2018-19  to 2625000 students at present. 

The Chief Minister said the state government has been strengthening 57,189 schools and 3,280 other educational institutions under Manabadi Nadu-Nedu with an estimated cost of Rs.16021.67 crores which includes an allocation of Rs. 3669 Crores for 15, 715 schools already covered under Nadu Nedu phase-I. He said the state government has also constituted School Education Regulatory and Monitory Commission to take measures to set the standards of the educational institutes. He said the government has set up the Toilet Maintenance Fund (TMF) for maintaining the cleanliness of the Toilets. 

The Chief Minister said the Government has been providing full fee reimbursement to all eligible students pursuing Higher Education under 'Jagananna Vidya Deevena' scheme and spent Rs 5,573 crore so far and added that Under 'Jagananna Vasathi Deevena’ hostel and mess charges are being provided to the students and Rs 2,270 crore has been spent on this scheme so far. 

Aided Schools:

Referring to Aided Schools, the Chief Minister said the intent of the Government is to do good for the management, teachers and students of aided institutions and to shape them into better places of learning and they are free to accept the government offer to improve the conditions prevailing in the institutions. He listed out the four options given by the state government. The first option is to voluntarily surrender the entire institution along with assets and the existing staff which will make the Institutions as Government Educational Institutions without any liabilities and financial burden on the exchequer. The second option is the willingness to voluntarily surrender the aid in the form of surrendering all the duly sanctioned aided posts along with aided staff, but not the assets, which will make the institutions as Private unaided Educational Institutions. The third option is in case of unwillingness to option 1 and option 2 and thereby continue to exist as a Private Aided Educational Institution as per the existing rules, regulations, grant-in-aid code. The fourth option is withdrawing the willingness given earlier to either Option 1 or Option 2 and thereby to take back the surrendered staff and run the institution as a Private Aided Educational Institutions as per the existing rules, regulations, grant-in-aid code. 
He slammed the opposition for politicizing the issue for their vested interests. 

Earlier, initiating the discussion, Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh said the Government is giving utmost importance to education by strengthening the existing infrastructure for all government schools, by streamlining the Mid-Day meal programme and revising the menu, by taking up curricular reforms in consonance with the National Education Policy 2020 and also by setting up regulatory and monitoring mechanism to streamline the functioning of schools. He hailed the Chief Minister for introducing various schemes including Nadu Nedu, Ammavodi, Jagananna Vidya Deevena, Vasati Deevena and others.  

MLAs Venkata Rosaiah Kilari, Gangula Bijendranath Reddy, Kunduru Nagarjuna Reddy, Biyyapu Madhusudhan Reddy shared their views on the Education sector in the State and lauded the Chief Minister for his commitment towards it.

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